Apparatus for the preparation of cotton wool balls



June 13, 1961 w, sT ER 2,987,781

APPARATUS FOR THE PREPARATION OF COTTON WOOL BALLS Filed NOV. 30, 1956 INVENTOR IJe me r K z'stle r- BY 399- M ATTORNEYS 2,987,781 APPARATUS FOR THE PREPARATION OF COTTON WOOL BALLS Werner Kistler, Gommiswald, Switzerland Filed Nov. 30, 1956, Ser. No. 625,318 2 Claims. (Cl. 19-1445) Cotton wool pads or balls, prepared ready for use, eliminate the tearing of cotton wool webs, which is a partly unhygienic and time wasting operation. Hitherto such cotton wool balls were prepared by winding a strip of cotton Wool over a rotating mandn'l. The place where the winding mandril enters the pad remains visible. It is also a disadvantageous feature of this method that the preparation of such wound cotton wool pads is comparatively inconvenient, because each separate pad must be prepared in an individual winding process.

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of cotton wool balls, where the above-mentioned manufacturing difliculties are avoided, and which has the characteristic feature that separate parts of equal size are separated at regular intervals from a cotton wool fleece and ball-shaped cotton wool pads are prepared by continuously compressing, rotating and turning the mass of cotton wool.

The method proposed for carrying out this process has the characteristic feature that a pivotable separating roller follows a feeding device, and is intended to tear separate pieces ofif the loose cotton wool fleece introduced into the apparatus by the feeding device, where, following the separating roller, at least one compressing channel is provided, tapering towards the feeding device, in which an endless conveyor band is guided. The entire apparatus is such that the parts of cotton wool separated from the cotton wool fleece are conveyed by the conveyor hand through the channel, while they continuously rotate and thus are formed into a ball.

The drawing shows diagrammatically an example of an apparatus for carrying out the method, where FIG. 1 is a side view of a device for the preparation of cotton wool balls, and

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a part of FIG. 1.

In the illustration, the number '1 denotes a cylinder, provided in a known manner with needles, which feeds the cotton wool fleece 2, consisting of a mass of fibres loosely felted together, to several parallel devices for the preparation of cottol wool balls; one of these devices is shown by way of example in the drawing. A part of cotton wool fleece as indicated at 3 is passed to this device underneath the pressure roller 4 above an endless conveyor band 5, which follows the pressure roller and has an inclined position. The conveyor band 5 is guided over a guide roller 6 and a drive roller 7. A cam disk 8 is fixed on a shaft of the drive roller 7, and the prolongation 9 of a Z-armed lever 11 pivoted on the shaft engages the circumference of the cam disk 8. A separating roller 12 is rotatably supported between this lever 11 and another lever (not shown) parallel with it. The weight of this roller is partly compensated for by a counterweight 13 the position on the right-hand arm of the lever 11 being longitudinally adjustable. When the prolongation 9 of the lever 11 slides down the shoulder of the rotating cam disk 8, the lever 11 is swivelled by a certain distance in the counterclockwise direction; this will move the separating roller 12 toward the conveyor band 5. The cotton wool fleece 3 is now retained a little in front of the separation roller 12, while the part of the cotton wool fleece 3 below the separating roller 12 is gripped by another endless conveyor band 14, which is in a horizontal position. It

United States Patent G is convenient to arrange the proportions so that the conveyor band 14 has a greater band speed than the conveyor band 5. Also, the conveyor band 14 is provided with rubber strips 15, arranged across the longitudinal direction of the band, and in groups which are offset with respect to each other, and fixed with regular spacing on the conveyor hand. These methods and arrangements ensure that the part of the cotton wool fleece 3 underneath the separating roller 12 is separated and moved away by the conveyor band 14. One of these separated cotton wool wads is denoted by the number 16 in FIG. 1. It can be seen easily that wads of cotton wool 16, of equal size, are separated from the cotton wool fleece 3 at regular intervals, and removed by the conveyor band 14.

The endless conveyor band 14 is moved by a drive roller 17 and guided over a guide roller 18, which is turned to a saddle-shaped profile. The conveyor band '14 is also arranged in a casing 19, with the exception of the part placed on the drive roller 17. The drive roller 17 is shaped so that a channel 20, steadily tapering towards the right, is formed on the upper side of the conveyor band 14. A similarly shaped channel 21, with its largest cross-section underneath the guide roller 18, is arranged on the lower side of the conveyor band 14. The two channels 20 and 21 are connected together by means of a circular channel 22 taken round the guide roller 18. While the channels 20, 21 have rectangular cross-sections, the channel 22 has a partly rounded cross-section, owing to the shape of the guide roller 18. Several guide pins 26, bent as required, are fixed to the side walls of the casing of the channel 20, and project into the channel 20 and have the function of turning the cotton wool pads 16 passing through the channel 20 several times in opposite directions about their own axis, so that they assume an increasingly spherical shape as their motion progresses. At the entrance to the channel 22 the cotton wool wads 16 are already largely formed to perfect balls of cotton wool. They are now comparatively strongly compressed at the channel 22 and then, as they enter the channel 21, they are loosened up again, after which they are compressed again considerably, while they are continuously being rotated as they pass through the channel 21.

The cotton wool balls 23 formed in this way now leave the channel 21 at the left-hand end and drop on a conveyor band 25, which is in a direction perpendicular to that of the conveyor band '14; they are being guided by a deflector 24 as they drop on the conveyor band. The conveyor band 25 collects them and removes them laterally away from the apparatus described here.

The cotton wool balls prepared according to the process described here have a very good spherical shape. They are also distinguished by the fact that their material is generally uniformly distributed.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to a now preferred example and embodiment of the invention it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended, therefore, to cover all such changes and modifications in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In combination with a cotton fleece feeding means and a roller means for severing individual wads of cotton from said fleece, a compression channel assembly for receiving and balling severed wads of cotton, said compression channel assembly comprising a casing and 2 3 an endless conveyor mounted in said casing for receiving and transferring the said wads of cotton through the casing, the interior walls of said casing, which are disposed adjacent the various surfaces of the conveyor being of such a configuration and the endless conveyor being so mounted in the casing that a tumbling of said wads as well as a gradual compression of said wads in a plurality of difierent planes is effected prior to the time that the wads are ejected from the assembly, said casing being elongated with certain of the walls of the casing being disposed adjacent the surface of the endless conveyor and comprising first and second gradually converging flat planar surfaced channels, the convergence of one planar surfaced channel being directly opposite to that of the other planar surfaced channel and said planar surfaced channels also converging in the same direction as the path of travel of the conveyor.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 including an arcuate wall unit which has a partially rounded cross-section connecting said first and second converging planar surfaced channels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Bailey Aug. 21, 1877 Richmond Sept. 11, 1894 Wahl Dec. 3, 1907 Peterson July 31, 1934 Heyer Apr. 14, 1936 McVicker et a1 Oct. 25, 1949 Verreet Feb. 5, 1952 Torrent July 17, 1956 

